Forever Lost
by That One Kidd
Summary: He no longer has a place to be, except where he already is. But, someone may be coming back for him. Though not to help him home. Instead, to end his life. Rated T, for language and violence.
1. Prologue

_Unknown Pov_

Bright pink, searingly bright pink, flashes across my vision. I fall to the ground and blood splatters outwards. I realize, with utter horror, that my arm is missing. A booted foot plants softly into my chest, and I look up at him. The one I love looks down at me, the gun pointed to my head. His beautiful crimson eyes shine in the fire that casts shadows across his smooth green skin. "Why... I thought you loved me..." I manage to croak out.

He looks down at me, his face filled with sorrow, and remorse. "I'm sorry..." He says, looking away slightly. When his gaze returns to me, a tear runs down his cheek. "I love you... Gaz."

He pulls the trigger, and my world becomes engulfed in light.

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**A/N: This, wll be the remade version of New Friends, and Old Enemies.**


	2. Nightmares

**Two weeks earlier...**

_Zims POV_

How long have I been in this chair, staring up at this blank monitor? It seems like eons, but truthfully it's only been hours. I'm here, every day, staring at this monitor. Just hoping they would call back, and tell me they were just kidding. Tell me, that it was all a joke.

I've been on this planet for eight years... Eight long, and drawn out years...

But four years ago they called me, and that's when I found out I had nowhere to go back to. It was still there, but they didn't want me. They NEVER wanted me. I'm a defect, and I didn't even know it. They knew, they always knew. Both of them hate me, because I feel...

Just because I feel...

I sigh, and swivel my chair to the only monitor that was actually turned on. The one in the Dib-humans house. The one in HER room. Her purple hair cascades over her pillow, and the blankets cover her thin, perfect form. I tilt my head in wonder. What time is it?

The clock in the corner says 3:30 A.M. I've been in here for ten hours...

The full force of how exhausted I really am hits me with a big, loud yawn. I stand, and walk over to the controls a few feet away. I press three buttons, and the wall slides open to reveal a small rectangle barley big enough for me to fit in.

I spin around, and step back into the sleep chamber. Metal arms detach my PAK, and reattach it to the wall for recharge. Two thin wires snake from the wall behind me, and insert themselves into the holes where my PAK latches onto my spine.

My eyes grow heavy as my body relaxes, and after a few moments I fall into a deep sleep.

...

And I dream...

The memories that were supposed to be wiped from my mind, but subconsciously stored in my PAK. They began to unlock themselves, and I remembered everything they did to me... They tried to show me what disciplinary actions they could in force... They tortured me, scarred me, and then made me forget it ever happened.

The whole point of torturing me and making me forget, is that in my PAK's subconcious I would always remember what they can do to me. To keep me in line. But now the memories are coming back, in the form of terrible nightmares...

I see fire, and a long metal rod. At the end of the rod is an emblem. The emblem of a defect. I see them press it against my chest, and I scream in agony as it burns into my flesh. Distorting the smooth, velvet like skin into a horrible, twisted scar. I am marked...

Then I see them standing over me. His red eyes next to the others purple. They tower over me, smirking, long knives in their hands. Then...

Then they cut...

I see my purple blood pool out onto my skin, and I stifle my whimpers of pain. They laugh, and cut deeper. Only on my arms and legs, making sure not to harm the mark still smoking on my chest. My mouth betrays me, and flies open in a cry of submission, and my begging them to stop.

But they won't stop... They find it to funny, to see me writhing and bleeding like an injured animal. Because that's all I am to them. Just a lowly creature they can abuse and cast aside. Like a doll that has been played with one to many times.

But the worst parts... Are the psychological torture. They infiltrate my mind, and bring up only my darkest fears. They use it all against me, making me see what I dread the most. Make me hallucinate so real, it might as well have been there...

They kept me in a cell... With nothing. Not even clothes. They were worried I would use them to end my life, and re-leave myself of their unbearable torture. At that point, suicide was a solution that would have been gladly accepted.

But they wouldn't allow it... They wouldn't stop...

Every hour, of every day, for three weeks, they came back to torture me. They would let my wounds heal only slightly, then they would cut them back open. They never let me bleed out, they always supplied me with just enough blood to keep me alive, but not enough to were as I could fight back.

It was always cut...

Cut...

Cut...

Cut.

CUT.

CUT!

I awake screaming, drenched in a cold sweat. The clock inside the sleep chamber reads 7:49 A.M. Almost time for another day of this human "HiSkool". I don't even need to keep up appearances now that my mission has no meaning. But I do anyways, as this pathetic dirt ball will be my new home for a VERY long time...


	3. Tenn

_Zims POV_

As I enter the classroom, a new thought dawns on me. Maybe the only reason I keep up appearances is because of her... She glances up at me from behind the handheld device she always carries. Our eyes meet for a split second before she looks back and continues to play.

Images of last nights nightmare flash through my mind as I sit behind her, and I shiver.

Last nights nightmare was particularly bad. I catch a whiff of her infatuating sent, lilacs and blood, but not even it can pull me from the fear imprinted on my soul.

If I even have a soul...

_Dibs POV_

I look over to Zim, whom appears even more shaken than usual. That alien had changed over the past few years. It started when one day he just up and stopped trying to kill me. over the next year or so he was always down, and you could tell he was sad. And then he started looking like something was seriously bothering him.

I realize the teacher has already started talking, and I pull out a notebook and pencil. I write, but I'm honestly not focused on the notes. What's really bugging me is Zim. What happened to him? It must have been something terrible, to make him like this.

I glance over to him, but hes not even doing anything. He just sits there, staring at his desk. Pencil cast down on his paper, and eyes focused on naught but the air. I continue to write. Why do I care at all about the creature whose sole desire is to destroy the earth? I don't.

As the rest of the class period goes by, Zim does the same thing the entire time. He sits there, and he stares. Up until the bell to second period rings. Then he slowly stands, and follows everyone out the door.

I get a nagging feeling that I should talk to him, but I cast it aside. I don't care about this alien, and he can rot for all I care. But still... He looks like he NEEDS someone to talk to...

No! Screw Zim!

_Zims POV_

I sit at my table for biology, next to my lab partner Gretchen. I slump down in my chair, uncaring for today's lecture. My eyes grow heavy and I yawn. I shouldn't be tired, my PAK is fully charged!

But my eyelids feel like they weigh 50 pounds each, and eventually they win over.

I fall asleep, which is not a good idea...

...

They stand over me, all three of us surrounded by darkness. I'm strapped down as I stare up at them. They grin, giant, pleased grins. The knives in their hands reflect an unseen light source, and glimmer in my eyes. One of them leans over, glaring at me with his red eyes.

"Scream for me..." He hisses, and rams the knife deep into my thigh. I obey, and let out an agonized cry. Slowly, and very VERY painfully, he pulls the knife from my leg. I whimper and hold back tears.

The one with the purple eyes' razor sharp teeth reflect the same light source that sparkles in his knife. As the red one steps back, the purple one steps forward. He lightly slides the tip of the knife across my stomach, sending chills up my spine.

He clasps the knife with both hands and raises it above his head, his smile never faltering. Suddenly he thrusts it downward, and as it pierces my stomach I fly up from the biology table, screaming and clutching the wound in my stomach that wasn't there.

The entire class stares at me, and I glance around at each of them. I clear my throat, sit down, and slouch.

I wish I could just dissapear...

_Dibs POV_

The constant beeping and tiny explosions from Gaz's Game-slave 4 are the only sounds that break the silence between us as we walk home from school. It had always been this way, since we were little. I sigh and close my eyes for a rest.

When I open them again a girl's smile greets me. The girl has dark blue hair with a silver shine in the light. Her skin was slighty pale, and her eyes were... Odd. They were pink, and the black eye shadow around them only amplified the color.

She brushes a lock of hair from her face and smiles again.

"Um, hello." She greets.

"Hi, umm... I didn't see you there." I reply.

"Yeah, sorry... I'm uh.. I'm Tenn." The girl says.

"Nice to meet you, Tenn, I'm Dib. Are you new around here?"

"Yes, I just moved in down the street there. I'll be at your school tomorrow, and I know it's yours because I saw you leave it. So I thought I might introduce myself."

"That makes sense... um..." I trail off, unsure of what to say.

Zim bumps my shoulder as he walks past me, but he doesn't falter and keeps walking. Tenn looks to him, as though she were thinking about something... "Zim..." She mumbles. I glance to her quizzically. "You two already met?" I ask.

She looks to me, as though just remembering I was there. "Um, yeah! Of course..!" She states quickly. I put the far to fast answer aside, and smile politely. "Well uh, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I state.

She looks saddened slightly, and nods. "Okay.." She says.

I step past her and start walking to catch up with Gaz, who hadn't stopped. "Wait, Dib!" Tenn calls from behind me. I turn to her, and tilt my head. "Do you want to maybe... Hang out, next Friday?"

I smile wide, because no girl as cute as her had ever asked me to hang out.

And although I talked to her at school, those two weeks went by slower then I could have possibly imagined.

But what a fool I was, that we all were, to be so blind as to what horrors would ensue that Friday...


	4. New Friends?

The same day, in Zim's home..

Gir, a newly rebuilt Gir, sits on Zim's pink couch and watches his favorite show. Well, every show was his favorite, but the Angry Monkey Show was his most. Gir was quite happy with the upgrades Zim had given him. Gir now stood as tall as Zim, and the other humans, and Gir's body figure and looks now resembled that more of a human. Just with light grayish skin, and blue hair. He had Zim buy him a pair of jeans and turn his old dog costume into a hooded jacket.

Zim opens the front door, drawing Gir's attention, and then shuts it. Gir knew about his masters nightmares, and how it was better not to bring them up. "Hello master. How was skool?" Gir asks happily.

"Eh." Zim grunts, and walks into the kitchen. "Would you like some nachos Gir?"  
Gir squeals and claps his hands, very excitedly. "Oh yes, thank you master!" He says. Zim throws his wig to the side and pops out his contacts as he walks into his little kitchen. He opens the cupboards and pulls out a bag of chips. "Computer?" Zim calls. "Yes, master?" The robotic voice asks, from seemingly nowhere. "Bring me the nacho cheese."  
"Yes master."

The front door opens and then slams shut again, but Zim doesn't glance up as his attention is focused on trying to open the bag of chips. "Gir? I thought we were having nachos?" Zim asks, almost sounding disappointed. Zim has come to love Gir more, since his intelligence upgrade. "It's not me master, it's-"

"Zim!" Gaz says, demanding attention. "Gaz." Gir finishes.

This makes Zim look up, and comes eye to eye with Gaz. "Oh, hello Gaz. Would you like some nachos?" Zim offers.

"I saw you looking at me when you came into class today, Zim." Gaz says, ignoring the offer. "Yes, and you looked right back. What's your point?" Zim questions.

"Well, I noticed you looked at me yesterday to."

"And?"  
"AND the day before that."

Zim gives up trying to open the bag for the moment, and stares at Gaz. Gaz was happy he couldn't read minds, because all she could think about was the beautiful color of Zim's eyes. She put the thought aside. "What do you want, Gaz?" Zim demands. Gaz raises an eyebrow at Zim, irritated at his tone. "Why are you staring at me all the time?"  
Zim sighs, trying to work up his courage, but instead decides to stall for time. "First of all, human, I'm not staring. I'm merely glancing at you. There is a difference." He says. Gaz growls at him, menacingly, and crosses her arms. Zim inhales... But his squeedily-spoodge flips and he cant bring himself to say what he thinks. "Because..." Zim thinks quickly and says the first thing that pops into his head. "The clock is right behind you."

That was dumb.

"What? The clock?" Gaz questions, confused. "You're lying Zim, and I hate liars." Zim rolls his eyes, and licks his lips. "Well, YOU are trespassing. I never invited you into my home, and so you must be breaking and entering." Zim responds, smugly. A vein practically pops from Gaz's head in frustration.

"Zim." She growls, demanding a forward answer. Zim is to stubborn, though, and Gaz soon realizes this after a few minutes of silence.

Zim glances over Gaz's thin form, giving her a quick once over. Her violet hair splashing down to the middle of her back, her black hoody halfway unzipped to reveal a pink and black striped undershirt, matching her leggings underneath the small black skirt around her waist. She didn't notice him check her out.

"Zim, seriously, tell me now or I will pluck out your eyes and feed them to you." Gaz threatens. Zim crosses his own arms and sighs. Gaz would be angry at him for what came next. "That, Gaz-human, is why you have all but no friends." Gaz almost recoiled in shock at the unexpected statement. "What... What the HELL did you just say to me?" Gaz demands, raising her voice to threatening levels. She lashes out and wraps her hand around the Irken invaders throat, her fingernails digging into the soft like flesh. _'Wow... His skin is so... It's almost like silk.'_ Gaz thinks, as Zim coughs and gags.

Zim grabs Gaz's wrist, desperately trying to free himself from her grasp. She slams him against the wall, his PAK clanging against the fake drywall surface. Gaz pushes the thought of Zim's skin out of her mind and shoots daggers from her eyes into Zim's. After she has decided Zim has had enough she releases him and he grabs the red mark on his neck, coughing and hacking. After a few moments he regains himself, and looks into Gaz's eyes.

This, is his opportunity.

In an instant he places a hand on both of Gaz's cheeks, and leans in at lightning speeds. His green lips connect with her pale white ones in a soft, passionate kiss. Her amber eyes fly open in shock, but she doesn't pull away. Zim is the one to break the kiss, and as he pulls away Gaz is left breathless.

"Where... The fuck did that come from...?" She mumbles finally.

"You want a straight answer on why I was looking at you? I..." Zim pauses, and swallow the lump in his throat.

"I... I think I love you. I can't take my eyes off of you. Your... Gorgeous." He blurts.

Gaz stares at him, bewildered. Suddenly she reaches out and Zim braces himself to be strangled again, but instead her hands land on his shoulders and pulls him towards her.

To his surprise, they kiss again.

"Master?" Gir calls, walking into the kitchen. Gaz rips herself away from Zim, blushing, and bolts out the door. Zim glares at Gir with an angry face, and Gir stares blankly at him. "What?" He asks, completely unaware of what he just did. Zim shakes his head and sighs, then bursts into a fit of joyous laughter. "Nothing Gir! Here, feast upon these nachos while I check on one of the experiments in the lab." Zim responds.

"Okey dokey!" Gir responds, and takes the nachos into the living room. Zim stands on the toilet, which was indeed placed inside his kitchen. "Computer, take me to hanger B." Zim orders. The platform inside his toilet begins moving down into the bowels of his underground base. A small eternity later, Zim enters an enormous room, filled with inactive SIR units with the same bodily design as Gir's new body. The only difference was the heads.

The heads were round on top, with triangular horn like spikes on either side of its head. There were no mouths and only one large eye. There were thousands upon thousands of these inactive battle bots in this hanger. At first Zim had planned to use these machines to destroy the city, but now that he had to live here these machines would only be used to gather dust...

But alas, Zim felt obliged to check there status every couple of weeks. With lightning speed Zim punches buttons into the panel in front of him. In response his computers voice booms from the ceiling. "Combat SIR's are battle ready, Zim. They will proceed to arm themselves with the pulse rifles designed for them and await your orders upon activation." It says, then adds in a small "Not like they ever WILL be activated..."

Zim ignores this and gazes off at the robot army. Suddenly his thoughts are interrupted by flashing red lights and high pith warning sirens. "Zim, an unknown alien vessel is approaching the earth's atmosphere!" The computer exclaims. Zim snaps his attention to the monitor. "Can you identify the species of this vessel?" Zim asks.

"Affirmative. The ship appears Irken in nature, but deviated from it's original design."  
"Irken? Can you confirm this?"  
"Affirmative, Zim. It is indeed Irken!"  
"Can you calculate a landing position?"

"Processing... Negative. The vessel is gone."

"What do you mean, gone?"

"It has dropped off of the radar Zim."

"Damn, then there is no use scanning at a higher frequency as Irken stealth tech is extraordinarily powerful."

"Indeed."

"Then we shall let things progress as they are, see where it takes us..."

_Somewhere near Zim's skool..._

Dust puffs up from the ground as a sleek modified Irken voot cruiser comes to a land. In a hiss of depressurization the dome opens and a hooded figure steps from the ship. "Rik?" The young, but stern voice asks. "Yes, my master." A gruff metallic voice responds from inside the ship. "Begin preparation of our base, and defense systems."  
"Yes, my lord.

"Sue?"

"Yes?" A second metallic, but female voice responds. "How much longer until my sister arrives?"

"Two weeks, by my best estimate."

"Thank you, Sue."

"Your welcome... Tik."

**A\N: DUN DUN DUUUUUUN. If you didn't read "New Friends and old enemies" then you don't know who he is, but if you did read it then YES. TIK. Why would I ever want to take him out? He means so much to the storyline! x] **


	5. The witch

_Nobodies POV_

A green eyed female Irken quivers on the floor, bleeding from a gash above her eye and a split lip. A hand reaches out to grab both of her antenna, and yanks her to her feet. The female screeches in agony, having her most sensitive appendages handled so roughly.

"WHERE. IS. HE?" Her attacker, a purple eyed female, roars. The fury in her eyes blazing like fire.

The green eyed female coughs up blood, and sobs heavily. Tears mixing with the blood on her face.

The purple eyed female shakes her by her antenna, causing her to scream again. "Stop crying you dumb bitch and tell me where he went!" She yells. The green eyed female muffles her cries, and then stops for a second. She then spits blood onto the purple eyed females face. "Verpissen, hündin!" She yells, in the native Irken tongue.

The purple eyed Irken wipes the blood off her face, and then glares at the other. Suddenly she pulls her fist back and slams it into the Green eyed Irken's face, throwing her from her grasp. "You filthy fucking PEICE OF TRASH!" The purple eyed Irken roars. "Why my brother would EVER mate with such a WHORE LIKE YOU, is beyond me. Now tell me. Where. He. WENT!"

She reaches down and clasps her clawed hand around the green eyed Irken's throat, the claws piercing the skin and drawing the purple blood. She lifts her up and slams her head back against the wall, bashing another punch into her right cheek.

"Ich werde nie sagen können, Hexe!" The green eyed Irken cries. "Witch? WITCH?" The purple eyed Irken screams, and throw the other to the floor. She walks over and kicks the green eyed females stomach, causing her to cough out more blood. "YOU DARE CALL ME A WITCH?" She roars.

The green eyed Irken sobs on the ground, huddled up and clenching her stomach. "Bitte, Tak, stoppen tust mir weh!" She cries. Tak rolls her eyes and crouches over the other female. "I'll stop hurting you when you tell me where my brother went, Lizz." She says gently, almost as if doing so would make everything all better.

Lizz looks up at Tak, her green eyes filled with tears and a large bruise forming around the left. "Why don't you just use your witchcraft and MAKE me tell you?" She asks, speaking out of her native tongue. Tak stands, growling, and deals another kick to Lizz's stomach. "I am NOT a witch!" She yells, and then sighs. "And I can't just MAKE you tell me. Even though my powers have gotten far more powerful over the years, your mind is simply to strong to control. I could always just read it..."

She grins maniacally, bearing her razor sharp teeth and locking her clawed fingers together. "But where's the fun in that...?" She asks, menacingly, and crouches back over Lizz. Lizz glares up at her and coughs, another spurt of blood erupting from her lips. "I'll never tell you, Tak. I'd rather die then betray your brother. You might as well kill me now." She says.

Tak smiles, almost as if this whole ordeal were funny to her. Which, in fact, it was. "Come now, that would be far to easy." She hisses, and forces Lizz to her feet. Tak blinks, and suddenly Lizz screams as a pressure squeezes tightly onto her brain. She drops to her knees and clenches the sides of her head, tears of bright purple blood falling from her eyes. "Are you going to tell me, Lizz?" Tak asks, laughing.

"N-never!" Lizz responds defiantly, and screams again as the pressure becomes tighter. Tak's smile disappears and she rams her claws into both of Lizz's side, piercing her flesh and digging into her muscle. Lizz screams continuously as the pressure is tightened even more, blood flowing like rivers from her eyes. "TELL ME WHERE HE WENT LIZZ!" Tak screeches, digging her claws deeper. Finally, Lizz breaks, unable to take the unbearable torture.

"EARTH!"

Suddenly it all stops at once, as Tak releases her mind and body, standing. Lizz crumples to the floor and vomits out immense amounts of her blood. 'Why would my brother go there of all places...?' Tak asks herself, and glares at Lizz. She walks over, at a brisk pace. "Mimi, grab the bitch." She says.

"We're leaving."

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**Sorry for such a short chapter, guys. I promise I'll do my best to make the next one longer! :D**


	6. A Problem

_A week later, Thursday, in the skool, Dib's POV:_

Another day, another useless amount of knowledge that we will never use in our daily lives ever. EVER. Although I suppose if your going to major as a teacher or Albert-fucking-Eintstien you need the trinomial theorem or whatever the hell it's called.

Zim looked down again today, like every other day, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of… miss? I missed the old Zim. I missed the way he would yell, freak out, scream, and try to kill me. It gave me a sense of purpose, like I was doing something good for the world.

Because let's face it, ghosts and Bigfoot are never going to try and destroy the earth. And without Zim I didn't feel like my life had any meaning. My title as a paranormal investigator didn't really feel like it should be mine.

I caught myself staring at him lost in my train of thought and looked away before he, or anyone else, noticed. It was never any fun studying for a test during lunch, I'm not surprised I got sidetracked. A few moments later I glanced back over to him.

He was still just sitting there, his food untouched, and his face solemn and far off. But then Gaz passed behind him on her way to her seat next to me, and he did something that made me very, very suspicious.

He smiled.

He didn't turn around to her, he didn't make notion to acknowledge her existence, nothing. He just smiled a little sly smile. But it went away quickly, almost instantly, and he was back to his usual depressing self. And then, the new boy I noticed a few days ago sat across from Zim.

Zim frowned and looked up into the other boys eyes. The boy was a little short, almost a whole foot shorter than Zim, and his face was partially blocked by his hood. I could see his lips though as he spoke, and whatever it was he said short, and to the point.

Zims eyes went wide with shock, his lips twitched slightly, and-

"Dib?" Tenn said, and I jumped a little. I didn't even hear her sit down. "What's got your attention?" I waved her quiet politely, and turned back to Zim and his guest. "Just a second, Tenn." I said gently. But both Zim and then new kid were looking towards me.

I almost darted away, ashamed they had realized I was watching, when I noticed that they weren't looking at me… They were looking at Tenn. And she was looking right back. "No…" She mumbled. "He can't be here…"

I watched her questioningly. "Tenn…?" I asked, trying to grab her attention. She stood up quickly, almost knocking her tray of food onto the ground, and I was startled at this. She wasn't one to just jump about sudden, her movements were almost always slow and deliberate…

"I'm sorry Dib, I have to go. There is something I need to take care of." She said, rushing off towards Zim and his newest friend. I stood up and followed her, frustrated at my lack of information, leaving Gaz standing at the table with a confused look. "Uhm…" She pondered.

Zim and the other boy stood as Tenn drew near, the three of them now as equally excited. Tenn roared at The new guy, another new thing for her, screaming at him and drawing eyes from all around the lunchroom. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? YOU'LL PUT THIS WHOLE PLANET IN DANGER!" She screeched, and then smacked him right a crossed his face.

He growled at her and yelled, not quite a scream, back at her "It's not me she's after, Tenn! It's Zim! I came here to warn him!" I caught up to them at that point. "Tenn what is going on?" I asked, touching her shoulder worriedly, and glancing at the new kid.

"Take your hands off her, filthy human!" He yelled, grabbing my wrist and yanking it off of Tenn's shoulder. My training kicked in immediately, and I lunged forward, spinning my way around behind him, twisting his arm and making him release mine. I quickly grabbed his own wrist as he cried out, pulled the arm up behind him, and shoved his face forward into the lunch table.

"Release me you filthy Alien!" The boy yelled, struggling against my grasp. "I could have told you that Dib would have beaten your ass, Tik." Tenn scoffed, glaring at him. "I said, let me g-" Tik was cut off as the air was defend by an ear splitting horn. A loud, long, single blast that echoed throughout the city.

Zim's face drained of color, as did Tenn's and Tik's. I lost interest in Tik, gazing around at the ceiling and filling with a sense of dread. "Zim… What the Hell was that…" I said, turning my head towards him. Before Zim could answer his communicator extended from his PAK, and GIR's metallic voice came through. "Master… We have a problem."

The four of us ran outside, Gaz now close in tow, and looked up into the sky. There it hovered, casting a shadow over the city. A hulking, pink and purple behemoth of an Irken flagship…

The Massive.

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**Yessss I know I haven't been on in like a year and I am soooo sorry. But I promise I'm back now and I will upload as often as I can! **


	7. War

_Gaz's POV_

As I made my way out the Skool doors, and joined the others in their crowd, I looked up and saw what had them all fixated. I had heard stories about the Irken flagship, mostly from Zim's gloating and Dib's rants but I never imagined that it's name was a bit of an understatement. The ship wasn't just massive, IT WAS FUCKING HUGE.

So big, in fact, that the shadow it cast covered the entire city, giving it a dark and gloomy feel. Another blast of the Massive's horn rang out through the buildings, this one so loud it shattered all the windows in the city. I covered my ears, screaming, but even I couldn't hear the noise I was was a shockwave, a rippling wave of light, that spread over the city. Nothing was damaged but when it passed over Tenn and the new kid, their very bodies rippled with the same light and then their holograms shut off in a bright flash of static.

Wait, what?

Tenn and the new kid, were indeed, Irkens. I gasped a little, seeing my brothers best friend (And probably lover with how much time they spent together) as anything but human anymore. Dib saw this as well and his mouth fell open. "WHAT? WHAT THE FUCK?" He shouted, utter disbelief and betrayal making his voice crack. Tenn lifted her hands in defense, stuttering "Dib, please, I can explain every-"

But she stopped and all of us turned to Zim, who had fallen to his knees and was mumbling something with his eyes still fixed on The Massive. "Zim…?" I asked, stepping towards him slowly, my hand outstretched and reaching for his shoulder. "Are you okay…?"

"What did you do…" Was all I could make out from Zim's mumbling's. I stopped, confused as to why he would ask me that. "What?" I asked, quietly, trying to keep him from doing something drastic. He stood, turning to me and stomping forward. "WHAT DID YOU DO!?" He screamed, and I flinched as he came near me but it wasn't me he wanted. He stepped right past me, and I watched him stomp over to Tenn and the other one. Tik, I think his name was.

Zim reached his hands out for Tik's neck, roaring at him in utter hatred. "WHY DID YOU BRING THEM HERE?" Tenn stepped between them, blocking Zim's hands and holding him back. "Zim, stop!" She shouted, trying her hardest to keep him away from Tik. "I didn't lead them here, you fucking nitwit! I don't know why they are here!" Tik shouted, taking a step backwards away from Zim. Suddenly, they both stopped and looked at Tenn. "Was it you…?" Zim asked, narrowing his blue eyes, still covered by his terrible disguise.

Tenn shook her head, pushing Zim away from her, and pointed her finger scoldingly. "Now don't you go accusing me of something I didn't do either!" She shouted. "Well if neither of you did it then who-" Zim was cut off when his communicator slid out of his PAK again, GIR's voice materializing through the radio static. "Master, unencrypted transmission being broadcast directly to base coms. Sir it's… It's coming from the Tallest…" He said, trailing off in suspense. Zim was silent for a minute, trading stares with each and every one of us. Finally he spoke. "Put it through…"

The communicator turned away from Zim and a holographic screen was emitted by a beam of light. There was white noise for a minute before finally a pair of arguing voices cut in followed by the image of two extremely tall Irkens, one red and the other purple.. "Goddammit Purp, I said I was talking!" Tales Red said, pushing the purple one away from the camera "No, let me talk to him, it was my idea to call!" Tallest Purple retaliated. Red pushed Purple away with more voice, and Purple yelled offscreen in panic before being cut off by a loud crash.

Red turned to the camera, finally realizing he was on air and laughed nervously. "Hey, Zim, long time no see huh?" He greeted, casually, as if Zim were some old time friend or relative. Purple budged his way onto the screen and waved wildly. "Hi Zim! Pretty crazy seeing us here huh?" He said. Red proceeded to shove him back out of frame and growl. Zim, rubbing his temples in annoyance, barked an order at the most feared beings in the galaxy. "Zoom out the camera and you can BOTH be on screen."

Red, glared at Zim in a mix of confusion and anger. After all, this puny invader did just try to give an order to his leaders. Pardon me, EX-leaders. Red waved dissuasively at someone off screen and the frame pulled back, revealing more of the Massive's bridge and Purple who was retaking his place at Reds side. "There we go, much better." Purple said happily, dusting himself off.

"We just came to tell you that we thought about your mission, taking over this planet and all, and decided maybe this dirt ball could be of some use to us. A donut factory planet, or something." Red stated, smiling. "And then we thought: 'Hey, Zim's a little dumb, we should probably go give him some help!'" Purple chimed in, and Zim flinched at the insult. "But on our way here we realized: 'You know what, we are going to be there anyway, we might as well do it ourselves!'" Red finished, grinning a little… Ominously. "So here we are! And here we go!" Purple said, and without a goodbye the transmission cut out.

The communicator stayed out, and Zim's panicked computer spoke. "Zim, I'm reading energy spikes charging on the Massive, their preparing their weapons! Fighters are also being deployed! Heavy dropships and infantry transports inbound! We've got a fight on our hands!" Zim, starting to hyperventilate a little, nodded. "Thank you computer. Uh…" Zim looked at the ground, thinking deeply, and then his head snapped up, eyes bright with an idea. "GIR! Initiate invasion scenario Zeta! Authorization code four dash six dash omega trident. Full combat load out, go!"

"I'm on it master! Designate targets as anything coming out of the massive?" GIR replied, calmly. "Indeed, GIR, I'll be there shortly. I'm bringing company! Try and get the voot combat drones up and running as well, we'll need the air support!" Zim replied, and the communicator slid back into his PAK. He took my hand and turned to the others. "We need to get to my base, NOW." Or ordered, beginning to tug me along and down the front stairs of the Skool. He stopped as the sirens began all through the city, usually used for tornado or severe storm warnings, and dozens of military fighter jets flew over head towards the massive and the oncoming wave of Irken fast attack craft, and in that moment I knew what had just unfolded before my very eyes.

Earth was at war.


	8. Old Enemies

_Zim's POV_

All around me was chaos at that point. People were rushing out of their cars, screaming and headed for shelter as Irken fighters screamed overhead, human jets chasing them and engaging in combat, the sky a twinkling mess of purple and yellow explosions. A pair of fighters zipped over the street in front of us, pink energy bolts striking cars and pavement and flesh, enticing explosions from the metal shells of vehicles and burning humans to ashes. An energy pistol popped out of my PAK and I caught it mid air.

As I turned to Tik and Tenn I saw the same for them, and we shook the weapons violently, activating them and readying the deadly tools for battle. I turned to Dib and Gaz, both of who were unarmed. "You two, stay behind us until we can find you weapons!" I ordered, staring them both down with a re-assuring gaze. "Dib, try and contact your organization, what was it, the Swelling Basketball Company or something." Dib growls at me and pulls his cellphone out of his pocket.

"The Swollen Eyeball Network, and I will. mind telling me what I should tell them?" He asked, dialing a number quickly. I turn, heading down the the Skool's front steps, glazing up and down the road, checking for any infantry. "Tell them to contact your human military, and tell them to tell the military not to shoot at us. Also, let them know that reinforcements are going to be deployed all over the city, and they will know what to shoot at by what's NOT shooting at them." I command, stepping over bodies and weaving between burning wreckage with the others close behind me.

"Zim, transport inbound!" Tik shouted, pointing to the bulky airship descending to just above ground level down the street. The doors on the sides opened, and a soft blue glow exerted from either side. Irken soldiers piled out, floating down quick but gently to the ground below. One of them pointed towards us and shouted something I couldn't hear. "Take cover!" Tenn exclaimed, diving for a nearby car and crouching behind it. We all copied her, Dib and Gaz taking cover farther back, just as the shots started whistling through the air.

Energy weapons make a strange sound when their fired. Its a short, sharp whistle and the bolt that extends from it makes a long and low whistle. It almost sounded beautiful if you timed the shots right. Beautiful, and deadly. There was a lull in the enemy fire and Tik stood, firing a few shots and managing to hit one of the enemy infantry right in the chest. He dropped, and with a quick count I made out about 13 more of them. An energy bolt hit the metal next to my head, melting it and making it glow a sizzling white. I fired a few blind shots, I couldn't tell if any of them hit. I noticed then that Tik was on his communicator, but I couldn't hear what he was saying.

"They're moving in on us!" Tenn shouted, leaning around the front of the car she used for cover and taking a few shots. One of them connected with the shoulder of an Irken and it dropped, clutching the burning wound and screaming. Another blast from her pistol fried a black spot into the Soldiers head and silenced him. They still pushed up, now within just over a dozen yards of us. Their shots were getting more accurate. Tenn leaned out again to try and make a few more shots, but then a flurry of bolts started landing around her. She quickly pulled back into hiding and cursed as her cover was quickly being melted away. "I'm taking to much fire, I need to move!" She shouted, and I waved her over. "On the count of three, get over here I'll cover you!" I replied, and she nodded. "Three… Two…" I stood, screaming and firing wildly, making the enemy duck and suppressing most of their fire. "ONE! GO GO GO!"

She bolted from behind the half melted car and sprinted for me, firing half assed bolts at the enemy, rapidly approaching my position. She was a few feet away when a stray bolt hit her in the side, causing her to scream in pain and spinning her to the ground. She hit the pavement with a loud thud, and Dib screamed "NO!" Standing out in the open. Tenn, grunting in agony, waved Dib away and desperately dragged herself towards me. "Get back in cover I'm fine!" She shouted at him, as I grabbed her arm and pulled her out of harms way. She held her side and roared through clenched teeth.

An arm extended from her PAK, a roll of bandage tape on the end, and it wrapped the fabric around the burn, sealing itself and cutting off the excess and it retracted back into her PAK. In seconds the fabric was already being dyed a dark purple. Looking down at the moist purple fabric, she threw her head back, groaning in searing agony. "Fuck that hurts!" She exclaimed. I took a few pot shots and dropped another soldier, 9 were left standing.

"You're going to need better medical attention than that." I say calmingly, as I crouch back into cover next to her. She nodded and ground her teeth. "I have a med bay back at my lab, if we get there I'll fix you right up." We both flinched a little at my statement. I had said 'if' and not 'when'. "Oh shit… INCOMING!" Tik screamed, pointing towards The Massive. I turned my head to the sky, just in time to see the Massive fire one of its energy cannons. The beam came down in a glorious display of pink light, and hit the Skool to our right. It erupted into debris and flaming hunks of rock, causing the lot of us to pull our heads down in self preservation. I feel a pang of remorse for any humans that may have been hiding inside.

I snap my head back up to check on my friends. Tik was already back on his feet, taking a chance in the momentary confusion to kill another soldier, Gaz and Dib gave me a thumbs up acknowledgement. I turned back to the enemy, taking aim but retracting as an energy bolt whistled just past my shoulder, emitting heat onto my neck. "Zim, heads up! Weapons inbound!" Tik shouted, motioning towards two skyward figures quickly approaching us, twin trails of smoke behind them. As they drew closer I could make out the distinct shape of Irken SIR units, though they appeared to be modified, and both of them carried an energy carbine

I couldn't get a good look before they shot overhead of us, dropping the energy carbines. I caught one, mid air, and Tik did the same. "Gaz, Dib, catch!" I ordered, and underhanded my pistol towards Gaz. Tik did the same for Dib. Tik and I smacked the sides of our rifles, an electric whirring sound emitted from them and signaled their combat readiness. I never even managed to take aim before Gaz was up, out of cover, and walking towards us. She had her pistol primed and was firing shot after shot after shot. The Irken soldiers were struck by confusion, and peppered with her energy bolts, trying fanatically to return fire but never managing to get a single shot off as they were cut down.

Gaz's kill count was at 5 by the time she reached us, leaving us to outnumber the Irkens. She crouched down next to me, between Tenn and I, and placed a gently but firm hand on Tenns shoulder. Tenn nodded painfully at her and Gaz turned to me. My jaw was on the ground, having just watched such a display of ferocity from my crush, and I could do not but merely stare at her.

I have never. been so attracted. To anything. In my life.

She shrugged nonchalantly, as if reading my mind, and smiled. "I can't help that these idiots aren't as badass as I am." She said jokingly. I shook my head, clearing the not-so-clean thoughts running through it, and took another quick count of my enemy. Only four left! "We got 'em on the ropes!" Tik exclaimed joyfully, as both of us stood to take aim. We let loose a hail of energy bolts, driving the retreating enemies farther back, and laughing. "Run you motherfuckers!" Tik shouted.

Hope welled up in my gut, a warm feeling of 'We were gonna make it' coursing through my veins. It quickly disappeared when a pair of Irken fast attack craft pulled around the corner, screaming towards us and letting loose on their larger energy cannons. Dib only had time to scream out "GET DOWN!" Before an explosion just to my left threw my body through the air like a rag doll, tossing my to the ground and keeping me there.

The sounds around me were drowned out by the sharp ringing in my ear, my vision was blurred and spinning, slowly refocusing. I pulled myself to my hands and knees, rocking and stumbling as I tried to stand. I could barley make out shapes again. Gaz was dragging Tenn back into cover, and I was glad to see she was still alive. Tik was struggling to stand, and Dib sprinted over to me. He shook me, shouting something I still couldn't hear, and pointing back in the direction that the Irken craft and come from. Three more dropships were pulling in, but a human jet flew by and released a pair of missiles into the crafts hull. The 'thud-thud' reverberated through my head as the explosives hit one of the transports, searing it nearly in half and forcing it to tumble to the ground in a twisted heap of metal and purple flame.

I shook my head as Dib pulled on my shoulder, motioning for me to get back into cover. The ringing died out and suddenly all I could here was Tik shouting orders, the whistling of energy weapons, and the roar of the troop transports as they lifted themselves away from the street. "Zim! Zim man, come on, we've got to get back into cover!" Dib yelled, pulling me again. "Al.. Alright!" I replied, nodding and catching my breath. I reached down and grabbed my carbine, joining him in his scramble back to cover. Gaz had Tenn a few cars up from us, keeping her comforted as the bandages around her waist were already too soaked to hold anymore blood and the purple liquid had begun dipping down her shirt.

She looked pale.

I saw Dib eyeing her worriedly, and I nudged his wordlessly. He looked me in the eye for a minute before I nodded in assurance. He knew what i meant, that Tenn was going to be just fine, and focused his attention back on the enemy. He took aim through the cars shattered windows, firing a few shots. "Zim, there's too many, we're not going to be able to hold them off!" Tik shouted, blind firing over the hood of his car.

He was right. There were 28 of them out there, and more of them were surely on the way. Where were my Combat SIR's? Surely they should have-

An large ball of blue energy that crackled with electricity shot into the crowd of infantry, exploding into blue fire and bolts of lightning. Irkens were thrown this way and that, some torn into pieces, others burnt to a crisp. We all turned to where the shot came from, only to see GIR standing on top of a car at the corner of a street that connected to ours. He had a large weapon I had designed for heavy combat, attached to the bottom of his arm and smoking a little. It was a plasma repeater, a sort of high power machine gun that could also create an ordnance based projectile like the one he just used to tear the enemy to shreds. They had lost a good chunk of troops, but the infantry quickly reorganized themselves and took aim at GIR.

GIR smiled, slyly, and raised his free arm into the air. He brought it down, pointing towards the Irkens. "CHARGE!" He commanded, and in a beautiful attempt at ambushing a battalion of combat SIR's leapt from behind cover and out of hiding. They rushed forward, pulse rifles firing a fully automatic stream of ionized gasses. The Irken infantry didn't even have time to understand what was happening before they were cut down. Tik stood, raising his weapon into the air and shouting in triumph. "HELL YEAH!"

Dib, now safe from being shot at, stood and hurried over to Tenn. Despite his careful movements and an attempt to keep her out of pain, she still screeched in pain as he lifted her to her feet and threw her arm over his shoulder. "You're gonna be okay, c'mon, we'll get you fixed up…" I heard him mumble to her. I speed over to GIR, and he smiled in greeting. "Hello Maste-" I cut him off with a big, thankful hug that caught him off guard and made him stumble a little. Finally, I let him go, and smiled. "You showed up just in time GIR." I greeted thankfully. "We need to get moving though, Tenn's been hit and she's losing blood fast." I state, motioning towards the wounded Irken female.

GIR nodded and made a hand signal towards the battalion of combat SIRs surrounding us. "Fan out and rejoin with the rest of the defense force. Assist the human military as best you can." He ordered, and the SIRs made their departure. The six of us started our trek to my base, as quickly as we could get the half-conscious Tenn to move. "Status report?" I asked, glancing at GIR as we made our way block by burning block. "The Massive has deployed infantry all over the city. The humans are putting up a valiant resistance but they would've been crushed had it not been for our reinforcements. The voot combat drones are almost operational as well, they just needed a few adjustments due to a prolonged inactivation." GIR replied, keeping his eyes trained for any enemies.

I nodded, a flicker of hope sparking in my chest. "Excellent. We might actually stand a chance here." I mumble, a little too loud. We turn a corner and come across a battle just outside my base. A squad of Irken infantry was engaged in a firefight with some SIRs and my defense gnomes. We had the flank behind the infantry, giving us an advantage, and open fired. The soldiers had to divide their fire and we made short work of them. We hurried over their bodies and to my front yard. I nod at one of my Gnomes and it salutes me. I open my front door, ushering everyone inside and slamming it behind us. "Computer! Ready the medical bay for Irken morphology, we've got a wounded!" I order, and my computer coughs nervously.

Why was my computer coughing?

Why was my computer coughing _nervously?_

"Uh, Zim…?" Gaz says, as I turn away from the door. I see who what she see's, someone I thought I had cast into the outer reaches of space. Her purple eyes shone vibrantly in the lights of my base, her black cat slinked around her legs and her antenna twitched slightly. Tik straightened out and growled, a very angry look perched on his face. "You…" He said, as Tenn lost even more color from her face and stared in shock at the figure before her. The female never broke eye contact with me though as she tilted her head a little and licked her upper teeth.

Tak smiled sadistically. "It's been quite a while, hasn't it, Zim?"

* * *

**Gosh DARN that was a long chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! Things are looking a bit grim for Zim and the gang huh!?**


	9. The Good Doctor

_Four hours ago in deep space, a few lightyears from earth, nobodies POV_

Purple rests his hand on the shower wall, the cleansing fluid running down his body in a way that was slower than it should have been. Washing in artificial gravity was always different than washing under real gravity. In fact everything was just a little bit different in artificial gravity. Your movements are a bit more forced, like dragging your feet through ankle high water. Everything was just a bit slower and harder to do.

Purple sighed, leaning his head down and letting the light blue substance spray over his skull, dripping off his antenna in a sort of tingly fashion. It made him shiver with a profound delight. He could feel the cleaner nanites in the fluid scrubbing his skin with their little prickly arms. Even though the solution was damn near scalding hot, the way the microscopic nanobots worked away at the grime collected on his flesh gave a sort of cold, minty fresh feeling. Like brushing your teeth, but instead brushing your whole body.

When he felt he had stood there long enough, he hit the holographic button on the wall opposite him. It chimed softly, cutting off the water and deactivating the cleaner nanites. Panels to his left, above, and behind him opened, emitting a powerful gust of air that dried Purple almost instantly. A few metal arms extended out at that point, and Purple held his own arms forward. The oval gauntlets common to a man of his power clasped around his wrists and most his forearms and hands. A long, armored robe was pulled over his head, the hover pad closing around the bottom and lifting him a few inches off the ground as the fasteners tightened around his waist to a comforting fit.

A door to his right slid opening, granting him access to his quarters. Red was still asleep in the huge, soft bed. His robe was still on the floor, casually tossed aside during last nights endeavors. Purple smiled to him, wishing he had time to discard this robe again and crawl under the comforters next to Red, but knowing he had matters to attend he floated quickly to the chamber door, indulging in the fact that the hover pad on his robe quieted his movements.

The door itself, however, was not as kind to his attempt at sneakery and made quite a loud whirring sound as it slid into the ceiling. Purple cursed under his breath as Red groaned sleepily, rolling over and snuggling back into the covers. Purple sighed in relief, glad he hadn't aroused his cohort out of slumber, and slinked out of the opening, cursing a second time as the door glided back into place and clunking as it locked.

Purple floated down the long, empty hallway decorated with statues of Red and Purple, abolishing and glamorizing their conquest of the galaxy. Red was the one who wanted these statues and paintings and overall Ego fueling memorabilia. He had such a thing with taking praise and credit, and Purple was just fine with that, as long as he was still in charge with him. The enormous doors at the end of the hall opened before him, the deathly silence suddenly cut into by the chaos and uproar of hungry Irkens looking for snacks, their shouts and laughter and mingling echoing down the hall to Purples left from the mess hall.

Purple, however enticed he was by the wafting aroma of nachos and other such assorted snacks, pulled himself away from the complaints of his empty, nagging stomach, and floated the other way, down the hall towards an elevator lift. He glided toward the center, a circular floating hologram greeting him, and he flicked his fingers up across it until he found the deck he was looking for. With a gentle tap the hologram chimed, and the lift unlatched itself, floating downwards towards the middle of the ship with the labs.

After a long, boring wait, the lift stopped and chimed again. The doors slid open and Purple made his way towards the medical experimentation labs. He stopped at a secure, authorized personnel only door, and typed in a string of numbers on a holographic numpad to unlock it. He waited second, before the numpad turned green and the door opened before him. The hallway he continued down was lined on either side with medical laboratories, all fronted with big glass panels for the Tallest to observe the scientists at their work. Those of them that weren't delved deep into their work and those that took notice would nod at Purple or wiggle their antenna in a half assed, casual manner. This would bother Red, to an extent, but Purple had given these select few Irkens special notice and waved away most formalities they would usually have to incur.

They were, after all, the most important Irkens on the ship. Aside from Red and Himself, of course.

These scientists and doctors were experimenting on their own kind, testing Irken morphology and brain power, trying to create the perfect soldier. He came upon the end of the hall, the only laboratory that wasn't open to view. This lab housed the most successful of all of Purples scientists. Dr. Trax Lustorn. But there was something even more special about this scientist besides the fact that he was more successful than his predecessors. A second numpad materialized, prompting another code that only Purple, Red, and Dr. Trax knew. Purple typed it in with quick precision, and the door slid open.

"Ah, Purple, how nice of you to join us!" Trax exclaimed, feigning joy and never looking up from his workbench. His single horn came back, shaped like lightning, the other broken off in some long forgotten accident. One of his beady eyes was covered by a sheet of metal, a robotic eye replacing it. His waist gave way into four revers jointed legs, two organic and the other two mechanical in nature. His right arm was completely robotic, his left still untouched, and two tentacles came off of a jury-rigged PAK on his back, permanently grafting a second set of arms to himself. A large metal tube extended from the back of his head and into his PAK.

Dr. Trax was a Vortian, a species the Irkens had enslaved quite some time ago and mainly used for development and construction of Irken weaponry. This one, however, was given a freedom grant in exchange for his service under tallest Red and Purple in their medical experiments. He accepted this offer, quite over joyfully. Dr. Trax had an obsession with cutting things open and working on them, it was borderline fetishism. He had lost the use of his eye and arm in a laboratory experiment gone wrong, and in the process of fixing himself he decided to just upgrade his entire infrastructure with robotic parts.

In truth, the only thing still organic about Trax was his flesh and his brain. The rest of him was metal and gears and circuits. He was an extraordinary specimen, a marvel of bio-mechanical fusion. Purple nodded to him, knowing the Vortians enhanced robotic senses would catch the motion even when he wasn't looking, and glided over to Dr. Trax "How are we today? Hungry, I can see." Trax stated, smiling and touching a microchip in front of him with a spot welder, enticing a shower of sparks and making Purple flinch a little. "I could use something to eat, yeah." Purple replied, patting Trax on the back in greetings. "You should let me upgrade you, Purple. You would be perfect, un-requiring of any organic wants or needs." Trax offered, glancing over at Purple.

Purple scoffed at him, a mix of playful friendship and serious dismissal, and turned away from him to take a step towards a large vat filled with some sort of liquid, inside it floating a female Irken bare nude. Wires and tubes and sensors were attached all over her body, gently bobbing as she did in the light green fluid. Her breathing was audible, and steady, though somewhat forced but nothing serious. "I'd rather not end up like you, Trax. Is this the newest specimen?" Purple asked. The female floating in the vat twitched a little, probably dreaming, as Trax slinked over beside Purple.

"Indeed. The growth hormones grew her out of smeet stage, as usual, but she's still not responding well with the mental stimulants. She is, however, doing much better than the last one." Trax replied, leaning in a little closer and gazing at his handiwork. Purple grimaced, remembering the mess made when the last subject was exposed to the mental stimuli. "But she's not perfect." Purple stated, already knowing the hard facts. "No. No, she's not perfect. I'll have to dispose of this one as well, and start again." Trax replied, shaking his head and typing a string of words into a nearby keyboard. A soft hissing sound came out of the vat, and the liquid drained into some unseen area, as the wires detached from the females form.

She stayed there for a moment, curled up inside the vat, before sleepily opening her eyes and looking up at Purple. She stood, covering her breasts with one arm and closing her legs a little tighter, placing her free hand on the glass and looking at Purple with a pleading stare. She was, almost instantly, enveloped in a jet of incinerating fire, and soundlessly screamed in agony as her flesh and bones were, seconds later, reduced to nothingness. A quick spray of liquid sanitized the inside of the vat, and a little green light chimed on inside it, acknowledging its readiness for another subject.

"I'm close to recreating her, Purple, I can feel it in my circuits." Trax said, busily rummaging through a drawer of papers, and moving to a table covered with chemistry supplies. "I just need to perfect the physical adaptations of the host body. Otherwise they will never be able to sustain the psychic abilities of their own mind, let alone control them." He continued. Purple shook his head in a shameful, but respectful acknowledgment to the now deceased specimen. He spun, turning to Trax and clasping his hands behind his back professionally. "We are coming upon the target planet, Trax. This next one had better be the perfect specimen. You're my friend, we both know this, but if you do not live up to your expectations I'm afraid I'll be forced to induce serious punishments." He said.

Trax, unfazed, continued his busy search for god knows what, and didn't bother to look at Purple. "How long until we arrive?" He asked. "Four hours." Purple replied, keeping a keen eye on the cyborg. "I'll have her ready in 3." Dr. Lustorn glanced up at Purple, a sly smile perched on his blue-grey lips. "This one will be perfect."

"You will have your Tak."


	10. A Death in The Family

_Present time, Zim's POV_

I faltered in my words, stammering a managing to utter nothing but incomprehensible gibberish. How did she get back here? Why was she hear? I mean, it was obvious she would want her revenge, but how did she manage to survive without anything to go back to. Surely the tallest would have resented her for failing her mission to take earth from me, and the rest of the galaxy isn't to keen on helping Irkens, given our position in power. There would have been nowhere for her to turn, she SHOULD have died off.

Yet here she was, alive and prospering and simmering with a hateful passion. Tik was the first to speak. "What are you doing here? How did you find me!?" He shouted, stiffening himself into a defensive position. Tak, after a short pause turned her glare from me to the indigo eyed Irken next me, acknowledging his existence finally. "It's nice to see you, brother."

_Brother._

"And you as well, my dear sweet sister." Tak continued, glancing at Tenn and snickering.

_SISTER._

How. Did you. Find me?" Tik demanded again, moving a few inches closer. Tak chuckled, softly at first, but soon she had erupted into high pitched cackles and sadistic uproars of laughter. She steadied herself, taking deep breaths and smoothing herself out. "Oh, brother, you are never going to believe this." Tak snapped her fingers, and MIMI darted back into my 'Kitchen', then drug a wounded, half conscious, green eyed female into view. Tik stepped forward in shock, gasping in horror. "Lizz!" His fear quickly turned into rage, and he leaped towards Tak with a thunderous battle cry.

Tak held her hand forward, palm towards him, and he stopped midair. He floated there in immobility, and glanced around in confusion, struggling to move. "Wha-… What is this?" He demanded. Tak flicked her finger back and forth, like a clock and uttered a triumphant "Ah-Ah-Ah~!" She pulled her hand back, bending her elbow a little, and then thrust her arm forward. Tik shot backwards, tumbling towards us and crashing into Dib. The two of them groaned, Dib quickly pushing Tik off of him, and they stood. Gaz raised her energy pistol and fired a trio of bolts. But Tak smiled, quickly waving her hand in front of herself and making the bolts dissipate like smoke in a gust of wind.

He made a 'come here' motion with her finger, the gun pulling itself form Gaz's hand, and then closed her fist to crush the weapon into a ball of metal and sparks. Gaz stood there, shocked, just staring at her now empty hands. Tenn coughed in pain. "That's a lot-" She coughed again, drops of blood flying from her lips. "That's a lot more power than you used to have, Sister…" She stated, panting heavily and beginning to droop around GIR's shoulder. Tak smiled, joyed to have her power noted and her ego sustained. "You haven't even seen the half of it!"

Her smile quickly faded, and she snarled threateningly. "Now down to business." She reached down, stroking MIMI's back lovingly before wrapping her hand around both of Lizz's antenna. She yanked the green eyed female to her feet, and Lizz screamed in tortured pain, standing against her will. Tik roared in protest and loving defense, trying again to leap towards Tak, but he was stopped by an invisible wall. "I swear to The Tallest, Tik, I will kill you if you hurt her anymore!" Lizz gave Tik a pained looked, smiling even through the agony. "It's okay, my love. You know I'm strong, I'll be fine." Tak silenced her with a vicious smack, knocking her free from her grasp and to the ground.

Tik pounded his fists against the wall that held him, bearing his teeth and screaming through them, tears welling up in his eyes. "Stop! Sister, please STOP!" He begged, falling to his knees and dragging his hands down the psychic wall in despair. He begged softly in between sobs, as Lizz slowly dragged herself to him. She reached out, her hand hitting the wall, and Tik put his hand against hers. He couldn't do this, actually, as their hands floated mere inches apart by the divider of cruel fate. Tak scoffed, as Lizz was pulled away by unseeable hands, and lifted to Tak's side. "Quit your groveling and stand up, you pitiful whelp." She ordered.

Tik stood, backing away and rejoining us, glaring at Tak with a fury that rivaled even some of Gaz's most ferocious moments. "What do you want, Tak?" I asked, the two of us making eye contact. She shrugged, making a motion as if saying 'isn't it obvious?' "Why, I want my revenge of course!" She exclaimed happily, and reached behind her back. "And of course, that means…" She revealed a knife, curved and dotted with traditional Irken script. "Your death." She sighed, as if this were something that didn't mean much, and twirled the blade between her fingers. "Shall we begin? MIMI, Disable the SIR."

The black cat at Tak's feet suddenly shot towards GIR, my eyes weren't fast enough to keep up with it before it was on his shoulders and digging its claws into GIR's metal neck. Bolts of electricity shot up and down GIR's body, and he shouted in artificial pain, the sound of his voice warping and auto tuning, losing quality and sounding pixilated. He dropped, Tenn along with him, and she yelped in pain as she landed on her bad side. "GIR! NO!" I yelled, reaching for hi as though it would do any good. "ZIM!" I heard Gaz shout, and turned my head right as Tak pounced onto me. I was thrown to the floor, her on top straddling my waist, and she brought her knife into the sky. "I exact my REVENGE!" She screamed, her voice obnoxiously high pitched.

Gaz, to Taks' great dismay and my own great relief, was upon us in seconds, bringing her foot up and masterfully judo-kicking Tak right in the jaw. She was flung off me, and I rolled onto my stomach. I pushed myself up off the floor, desperately glancing around for my carbine, but I didn't have time as Tak was already sprinting for Gaz's defenseless form. Defenseless, however, is not a correct term. Before Tak could come within range, Gaz had swept her legs out from underneath her, dropping her to the ground and placing a solid punch directly between the Irkens breasts, knocking the wind from her lungs. Tak, recovering quickly, used her psychic powers to fling Gaz across the room, and stood. Tik came barreling towards her from her left, screaming, but his luck with her wasn't very good. Her abilities came twice fold for him, sending him slamming into one of my walls, shattering the artificial wood and leaving a deep physical dent.

Tak turned back to Gaz, who had managed to shake herself to her feet. I saw my carbine and scrambled for it as Tak rocketed towards Gaz, laughing maniacally. I dived for the weapon, bringing it to bare and taking a shot towards the Irken female. She noticed, stopping to block it, before turning back to Gaz. I had bought her enough time to regain her bearings and Tak had turned her head right into the speeding fist of the purple haired human. She spun, catching herself and swiping the knife at Gaz in a desperate attempt. Gaz sucked her stomach in, hopping backwards and managed to avoid the deadly blade. She brought her fist upwards into Taks' stomach, lifting her an inch off the ground, and stepped back in preparation for another swipe of the blade.

Dib, however, had a different plan. While Tak was dazed from the blow to her stomach, he tackled her to the ground and knocked the knife from her grip. It clattered only a few inches away, and the two forms wrestled with each other. Tak screeched in defiance, bringing her claws around and raking them across Dibs cheek. "Augh!" Dig shouted, falling off of Tak and holding his face. Tak crawled for her knife, but it was just outside her reach when Dib was on her back again. She rolled over underneath him, punching at his gut and face, as Dib blocked as many blows as he could. She rolled him onto his back, crawling over him and stretching her arm towards her blade.

Dib pulled her back. "Not today you-" He was cut off when the point of her blade drove itself through his neck.

"NO!" Gaz screamed, the color draining from her face as she watched in horror while her brother started to bleed. Tak ripped the knife from the human boys neck, crimson liquid spurted from the wound, and his hands flew up to the waterfall of blood. Tak rose from him, her face spotted with the humans life sustaining liquid. Tak, the maniacal psychopath she is, laughed and brought the dripping red blade to her mouth. Her segmented tongue slithered out from between her lips and licked away a bit of Dib's blood. "Tastes like… Copper." She mumbled sweetly, and then threw her head back in a fit of joyous laughter.

She stepped away and watched as Tenn clawed her way to Dib's writhing form, holding her hands over his, trying to keep the wound from bleeding to much. Her hands were slick with red in seconds and the blood kept flowing. She started to cry, her eyes searching his face for any sign of hope or reassurance. She found none. His eyes met hers, and she could see how terrified he was. He was young, he didn't want to die, he had so much to live for. Gaz dropped down on the other side of him, her hands floating above him, unsure of what to do. He gargled on blood, coughing and spitting the liquid across his chest, the air wheezing through the slit in his throat, only a tiny amount of oxygen making it to his lungs. He looked to his sister for comfort, knowing there was nothing to be done now.

He reached out with a bloody, trembling hand and held her cheek. Her skin was stained crimson but she paid no attention to the mess and held her brothers hand against her face. For the first time I had ever seen, Gaz let tears fall from her eyes. "Please, Dib, no. Please god don't go! Don't leave me here!" She leaned leaned forward and let out a long, loud, screaming cry. "PLEASE DON'T DIE BIG BROTHER!" I couldn't move. Couldn't walk over to hold her and comfort her and hush her, and her brother, as his life slipped away with each passing second. The only thing I could do was stand there and feel the burn of tears in my own eyes. I couldn't let any fall, though. I had to be strong. For Dib.

Gaz sobbed loudly, uttering a string of denials and threats to the Grim Reaper. Death was an unstoppable force, however, and no amount of tears or curses could change that. Dibs hand began to fall away from Gaz's face, and she held it tighter and cried out again. "PLEASE! DIB PLEASE NO!" She fell forward, releasing his hand and burying her face into his blood soaked shirt. "PLEASE DON'T GO. PLEASE!" She cried long and hard into his chest, and he turned his paling face to Tenn. She shook her head in uncertainty, stroking his hair and matting it with blood. She pressed her forehead against his, sobbing softly. She was a soldier, much better trained at keeping in her emotions than Gaz.

Gaz continued to scream and cry into Dibs shirt. Her whole body shook with each wail, and her fingers were laced up in Dib's shirt. Her face was buried deep into the fabric but it didn't help to muffle her deafening sorrow. My own despair, my own sadness, became a raging inferno of hatred and murderous content, as I turned towards Tak. She was leaning up against a wall, admiring her handiwork with a sickening smile.

The only thought that ran through my head was '_KILL HER'_

I walked towards her, which became a jog, which broke into a full on sprint. I screamed furiously, and she turned her head towards me with little care. I brought the energy carbine up, letting loose a hail of bolts, each one of them dissipating before coming within an inch of her. The gun broke apart in my hands, shattering into a million pieces but I cared not and continued my trek towards Tak. Suddenly I felt a powerful gust of psychic strength pushing me backwards. When I wasn't flung backwards like I should have been, Tak became worried.

I felt the pressure increase in weight, trying to keep me back, but it only slowed my journey as I powered through it. I felt stronger than I ever had before, as adrenaline and boiling fury coursed through my veins and pushed my onward. I leaned forward, leveraging myself against the tide of invisible water, and forced myself closer to Tak. The pressure increased even more and my feet dug into the floor, cracking the wood and splintering it beneath my feet as I continued to powerhouse myself towards my target. Tak had an honestly distressed look perched on her face, and both of her arms were extended towards me. With one final effort, she quelled with insatiable ferocity and managed to muster enough strength to force me backwards and away from her.

A thin trail of purple blood trickled from the metal tube attached to the side of her head, and she wiped it away while she panted in exhaustion. "I don't know how you did that, but I promise you won't be doing it again." She hissed, cracking her neck. She pulled her arms back, preparing for another psychic assault, when suddenly the door to my home exploded inwards in a shower of wooden splinters. A figure stepped through the doorway, and turned its head slowly across the entire room, taking everything in and wiggling her antennas, catching the scent of human blood but ignoring it, and the sound of a females crying.

Tak and I both stared at the female, our jaws practically hitting the floor. It was a figure we both knew, and were dumbfounded to see.

In my doorway stood… _Tak?_


	11. Clean Up

_Zims' POV_

The other Tak glanced at me, the only noticeable difference between this Tak and the one I was just fighting, was a soft green ring in the center of each of her eyes. And, of course, she wore a very elegant and threatening combat suit. She turned to her sister self, tilting her head and placing a hand to her neck, keying her throat mic. "The original is here. Orders?" She asked someone on the other line, keeping direct eye contact with the first Tak. A moment passed before she pulled her hand away and looked back at me. "Your life is spared, for now. Attend to your wounded…" She made a respectful nod towards Dib and Gaz, who had quieted down some but was still crying loudly into his shirt. "And your dead."

Then, looking back towards the 'original' Tak, she pointed towards her and pulled a large, clamp like device out of her PAK. "You. The Tallest request an audience. Come with me peacefully, or I am authorized to use lethal force." She ordered. The first Tak scoffed, slouching a little threateningly and raising her hands in preparation. "Alright, me. You can go ahead and try." She hissed. With all her might she thrust both of her hands forward, sending a burst of psychic power towards the second Tak. I'm not sure how powerful the new Tak was, or if my fight with the original had worn her out, but the new Tak simply raised a single hand and blew off the psychic power like it was nothing.

MIMI shot at her from behind, going for a sneak attack, but the new Tak reached around and grabbed her by the neck. The black cat squirmed and made high pitch noises of distress, but was silenced when electric arcs jumped up the new Taks' glove and disabled the little female SIR, the cat hologram fizzing out and leaving behind a smoking metal rag doll. She dropped the now useless hunk of metal without concern, the whole time never breaking eye contact with the first Tak. Then she vanished, reappearing instantly behind the first Tak and placing the metal clamp around her head, covering her eyes. "Wha- AAAAAAARG!" The first Tak screamed out in distress as more lightning spread across her body and knocked her unconscious.

As she fell, an invisible power caught her, and the new Tak turned to me. "I'll be back. Soon. Treat their wounds and ready yourself. I doubt you will be so weak." She said. I felt a natural spike of self-love at her compliment, weather it was purposeful or not, and watched her as she quickly and quietly left my home. Through the broken door I saw broken husks of my Combat SIRs, and just as more were approaching to attack her, she vanished with the original Tak in tow. I turned back towards Dib's now lifeless form. Gaz had finished her crying and was now stroking Dibs face gently, and I couldn't help but feel a little more empty inside at his loss. Tik had Tenn in his arms, bridesmaid style, and limped over to me. "Zim we need to get Tenn to the medical lab, she's not going to last much longer."

Tenn backed up this statement by coughing out again, spitting drops of blood across Tiks shirt. Her breathing was shallow and the bandage around her waist was starting to fall apart with how much blood was soaked into it. "Computer!" I called out, striding over towards my couch. "I need the Medical labs ready NOW. Prepare the extreme injury tank, near death scenario!" My computer spoke with its usual sarcastic attitude. "It's _been _ready, Zim. The lift is waiting." It said, as my couch lifted up and revealed a metal platform underneath, just big enough to fit Tenns' figure on. "Put her here, Tik." I said, turning to him and nodding. "The computer will automatically get her into the medical tank."

He nodded back at me, lying her down on the platform gently and backing away as it started its descent into the bowels of my base. He spun around and practically sprinted to his mate, Lizz, dropping to his knees and lifting her up into his arms. They spoke in our native Irken tongue, which is actually just the German language. I learned long ago that Irkens had been to this planet before me, though I never could figure out why. Just another invasion attempt I suppose. Our kind founded the German empire in the beginning of cultural evolution. The first here died out, but more had come later. Remember Hitler? Do you really think any _human _would be that hell bent on total genocide?

Gaz would have no idea what they were saying, but I understood every word. "Are you alright?" Tik asked, stroking her face lovingly. Lizz nodded, assuredly, and smiled at him. "I'll be fine. She didn't do any permanent damage." Tik shook his head and held the female closer to him. "I never should have left you there. I'm so sorry this happened." He said softly. I turned away from their conversation and went over to Gaz. She sat motionless over Dibs form, and I sat next to her. She inhaled deeply and exhaled very slowly, clearing her self out, and shook her head. Suddenly she embraced me, burying her face into my shoulder and taking big handfuls of my shirt into her fists.

I was instantly sent into a state of remorse. "I'm so sorry, Gaz. This is all my fault. This never would have happened if I hadn't come to this planet. Nobody would have had to get hurt. Not Tenn, not the countless number of people outside, not… Dib." I bit my lip as it started to tremble, holding my tears inside, and sighing deeply. She shook her head in my shoulder. "This wasn't because of you, Zim. This is HER fault. When we find her, promise me you'll let me have the kill." She whispered. I smiled a little.

Good old Gaz.

I nodded and wrapped my arms around her. "I promise." She inhaled one more time and then stood, I along with her. "I'm covered in my brothers blood, Zim. There is ashes in my hair and dirt caked on my skin. Please tell me you have a shower or something." She demanded. I nodded, agreeing with her, and turning towards Tik and Lizz. "We're all a bit of a mess. I've got sanitation stations downstairs in my base. You two know how they work." I paused, turning back to Gaz. "But you are used to bathing in water. Us Irkens can't touch the stuff, so what we use will be a new experience for you. Computer!" I finished, waiting for a response. It groaned in annoyance and I bared my teeth in irritated anger. "What _now_?" It asked. I would have scolded the little shit head if I wasn't so exhausted.

"Reprogram the cleaner nanites in sanitation station 4-A so they don't mistake Gazs' skin for dirt and eat her alive." I ordered, and then it crossed my mind that GIR was still out of order. "And get GIR back online." I finished. "On it, Zim." In seconds GIR's eyes blinked back into life and he jumped up, shouting and swinging his arms around. Finally, he stopped and looked at me. "Did we win, master?" He asked. I frowned a glanced down at Dibs' body. GIRs' shoulders dropped and he let out a sad "Oh…" I cleared my throat and he looked back at me. "We're going to clean ourselves up, GIR. I don't have anything for you to do, so find something useful and do it." I said, a bit more forcefully than I meant to. He nodded, smiling all the same, and turned towards the door. "I'll organize some troops, master, I should be back by the time you get done."

A few minutes later I stood alone with Gaz in my underground base, Tik and Lizz having already gone to shower together. "So, how does this 'Cleansing fluid' work?" She asked, stepping into the station and looking around at the smooth walls. "I don't even see any knobs." I leaned into the little rectangle and tapped a wall to the right of the entrance. A small circular hologram chimed into view, a bar stretching around the top that gradually changed from blue to red. "I'm sure you can understand what's hot and whats cold. Just swipe your fingers across these colors until you get to the perfect temperature. Now, when the nanites start your cleaning, don't be alarmed by the sensation. It'll almost feel like… Like toothpaste in your mouth. Minty. Fresh, you know?" I explained, look at her. She nodded and pushed me away. "Alright I can get it from here. I've got to change so get out." She said sternly.

I took stepped out of the room, the door closing behind me as Gaz started to strip down, and stood there for a moment. I lend back agains the wall, slumping down and sitting against the metal surface. My whole body ached, and groaned. I didn't have the energy to get back up. This had been a long, depressing, eventful day and it was barely 3 o'clock.

Suddenly, Gaz screamed.

I bolted to my feet, the door sliding open and I shot through it. "GAZ!?" I shouted, but almost instantly I stopped. My face was starting to turn a bright shade of red when I realized how much trouble I was in.

Gaz had stepped out of the shower, her hair was matted down with liquid and the I couldn't help but follow a few of the drops as they made their way quickly down over her bare breasts. Then onto her stomach and down, down, down to- "ZIM GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" She screamed, covering herself with one arm and bringing her free hand around to smack me in the face. I scrambled out of the room as quickly as I could and she continued to yell at me through the door. "WHAT THE _FUCK _WAS THAT ZIM!?" She wailed, and I could feel her hatred burning through the door. "You screamed so I thought that…" I trailed off, realizing that it WAS really dumb of me to just barrel in there. "The water was too cold, Zim, it wasn't trying to _kill_ me." She growled.

"I-I'm sorry, Gaz!" I said, kicking my foot on the metal floor. "Go take your own shower before I change my mind about letting you live!" I took her advice and slinked towards my own shower. I quickly stripped my own torn, dirt clothes off and stepped into the running liquid. The heat helped soothe my aching muscles.

What else could possibly go wrong today…?


	12. The Plan

_Zim's POV_

It had been about half an hour before everyone was ready to talk again. Though I knew that deep down none of us wanted to do anything right now except go to sleep and forget about the world crumbling around us. We stood in my medical bay, a half circle around two tables. On one sat Tenn, the upper half of her table bent so she didn't have to hold herself up, on the other was a bloodstained white sheet draped over the form of Dibs' lifeless body. Upon seeing this Gaz had sobbed again for a few minutes but her composure was collected again. She stood near me, to my right, with Tik and Lizz to my left.

I sighed, thinking deeply on the matters at hand, as GIR walked in, pushing a floating table in front of me. I leaned forward, putting my hands on it and leaning my wait into the table. God I was tired. I didn't bother to look up at GIR as the rest of my group gather around the table, leaving room for Tenn to see. "Status report." I said, tapping a small button on the side of the table. A holographic map of the city flickered into view, with an glowing silhouette of the massive floating above it. "Both the humans, and our legion of combat SIR's are sustaining heavy casualties. Our combined forces are managing to slow down the invasion, but its only a matter of time before we are overwhelmed completely by sheer numbers alone." He began, touching another button on his side of the table.

Red circles grew into the city, illuminating the area's that sustained the most damages. It pained me to see how large some of them were. GIR waved his fingers over the markings, continuing his update. "These area's are practically gone. Nothing there was left after the Massive's initial bombardment of orbital artillery." He thumbed another button and purple and green dots appeared all over the city. There were far more purple dots then there were green. "These purple dots here are Irken military, the green one are allied forces. We're managing to evacuate the remaining civilians to a bunker just outside of town but I'm not sure how much good thats going to do once the Tallest realize how many are actually surviving." He looked at me, a grim notion on his face. "There's also the matter of the Organic Sweep, Master…"

Gaz looked around at us. She was the only one who didn't know what that was. Before she could say anything Tik answered her unvoiced question. "The Organic Sweep is what the Tallest will use once the main force of resistance is destroyed. It's the most advanced weapon in the Irken military, only one in existence, and it just so happens to be floating in the stratosphere of your planet." He tapped the hologram of the massive and the view zoomed out, showing the entire planet and the Massive now hovering in its orbit. "Once its charged, which usually takes about sixteen hours, they will pull their own forces off the ground, go into orbit and…"

The hologram of the Massive fired a bright beam of light at the planet, and upon contacting the beam spread into a wave of fiery light across the earths surface. "Poof. No more life on the surface of the earth." He finished. "Wait!" Tenn but in from behind him. "What if we pull a 'Rat people from the Planet Blorch?'" She asked. Again, Gaz was confused. "During the early days of Operation impending doom 2, one of the first planets to be conquered was a planet called Blorch, home of a vicious race of rat people. When the planet was invaded, the initial resistance was quickly crushed, and the planet swept. But when they went back in for planetary reconfiguration, rat people burst from underground tunnels beneath the surface of the planet. Since then it has been known that the Organic Sweep will kill everything on the planets surface, but it can't make its way into tunnels or underground complexes." I stated to her, making a few hand motions here and there.

She shook her head. "So, what? We tell everyone to hide in their basements?" She retorted. Lizz answered her. "Well, not really, no. But if we could get everyone into say… Military complexes or even the subway systems, everyone in those places would survive. But we would have to get word out to the other countries to warn them." Her statement reminded me, where WERE the other countries? Surely they would understand that there was a bigger threat than there fellow man, now. I looked to GIR. "Speaking of which, GIR, where are the other countries? Why haven't they sent reinforcements?" I asked him. He shook his head in answer. "The massive has cut off all long range communication between this city and everywhere else. No one outside this place knows what's happening here, there is no way to warn them. Come the Organic Sweep, every other human being in the world will die-" "Unless we can stop it." Tik proposed, rather abruptly.

Tenn scoffed. "And how do you suppose we do that, Tik? Fly up to the massive and say 'Hey Tallest, we were just gonna blow up the ship, okay? Don't try to vaporize us or anything thanks!" She taunted sarcastically. "No, we don't need to blow up the ship, but if we can get close enough all we have to do is hit one crucial point on The Massive's targeting systems. The Sweep won't be able to lock onto the planet, and it won't be able to fire!" He exclaimed, looking back and forth between us. "That is, assuming the ships point defense systems don't blow us out of the sky first. Do you really think those laser cannons won't be able to hit four measly targets?" Gaz responded, sternly. Tik turned to GIR. "You said long range communications were jammed, right? What about short range? Could we get a word out the The Swollen Eyeball Network? Surely they must have been at least somewhat prepared for an invasion like this? If we can convince them to lend us their fighters or some kind of air unit, we could use their forces as a distraction while we slip in and take disable the Massive!" Tik said, getting a little faster as his voice filled with hope.

In fact, it filled us all with hope.

GIR nodded, looking off into space and smiling. He looked back at Tik. "Yes! Yes short range is online!" He turned to Gaz. "Gaz, Dib was your brother, you MUST know how to contact the SEN right?" he asked. She nodded. "Yeah of course he… he never shut up about it." She stuttered, a sob catching in her throat but she swallowed it and continued. "I can get ahold of them and convince them to help us. But in case this goes haywire, we need to figure out a way to warn the other countries." She said. Gir nodded in agreement. "I can rally a force to push past the soldiers protecting the border and get out to the others." He stated. I smiled, smacking the table in joy. "Then we've got something to go on here!" I shouted gleefully. "What about that other Tak?" Lizz asked. "She said she would be back, and soon. Do we stay here and wait for her…?"

I shook my head and sighed. "No. I'm not going to wait for her to come back. When she gets here we will be already setting the plan in motion. She can trash this base for all I care, it's not important anymore." My computer cleared its throat in protest, asking for recognition. "Don't worry, Computer, I'll save a copy of your memory disk to my PAK and restore you later." I assured him. He sighed happily and was silent again, content with this proposal. I looked back at everyone. I took in every feature of their face, every detail of the Irken and human skin, every single little thing that made them all special. These were my friends, all of them, and they were also my teammates. Their lives were in my hands…

And no one would take another life from me.

I put my hand over the table, a cliche gesture, but the rest of them were all game. Tenn jumped off of her table, shakily, and limped over. The wound had been fixed and a fresh bandage was around her waist. She stood with us and put her hand over mine. Then Tik put his in, then Lizz, then GIR, and last was Gaz. She hesitated for a second, but put her hand in as well. I took a deep breath and held in my nervous excitement. "The plan we've got is a long shot, but if we can pull this off, the galaxy will know that the 'Mighty Irken Armada' can be defeated. If we win here its not only the survival of Earth and her peoples, but its also a beacon of hope for every other species on every other planet around every other star in existence. We will incite rebellion, inspire people to join together and fight back, show people that David really _can_ kill Goliath with nothing but a rock. Today, the Invasion ends!" I declared, speaking with a renewed vigor and leadership. "For victory!" Tik shouted. "For Freedom!" Lizz replied. "For Earth!" Tenn chimed. "For Dib." Gaz said, softly.

We turned and looked at her for a minute, and I finally nodded. "For Dib." I agreed. We all threw our hands into the air, shouting "FOR DIB!"

We were jogging quickly down a hallway to my hanger minutes later, GIR crackling in over my communicator. "I've got a large enough force to make our way through the blockade, Master." He reported. "Affirmative, GIR. Proceed with your operation. Be careful out there!" I ordered. With a quick goodbye the communicator cut off and slid back into my PAK. Tik was on his next. "RIK, SUE, ready yourselves a pair of assault fighters. We're on a mission, I'll download the details into your memory banks." He said. A metallic, female voice replied to him "You got it, Tik. And Lizz. It's nice to hear from you again." It said. "The same to you, my friend!" Lizz replied.

While we had the time there was a few questions I needed answers to. "So Tik, Tenn, what the hell are you guys doing here anyway?" I asked. We didn't break stride as we spoke, continuing the journey through my base. "Well, before Tak was coming for you, she was coming for me first. She felt as though she deserved my help in your destruction, but when I refused to help her, she was enraged and threatened to kill me and Lizz. Our whole family knows Tak is unstable, so I had no doubts about what she would do, so I came here knowing that she would want you next. I figured we could both help each other to stop her." Tik replied. Tenn cut in with more details. "Word was different when it got to me. I never had much liking for my sister, even when we were growing up together as smeets. I was especially aware of her psychotic tendencies and I heard rumors that she was coming back here to earth wit home kind of weapon of mass destruction that would destroy the entire planet. I couldn't let my sister get away with such an atrocious crime, so I came here to stop her. I guess, unless you count The Massive, there was no weapon." She finished.

We had finally come to my hanger bay, and the door slid open before us. Gaz had been on her cell phone the entire time, and clicked it off without saying goodbye to whoever was on the other side. "The SEN has agreed to help us, for the 'FATE OF ALL MAN KIND'-" She mocked their obviously obnoxious tones. "They will send out a mass of atmospheric fighters when we give the signal." I nodded as I typed a string of words into a keyboard in front of me, looking over the large open space. The floor inside the room opened up in four different spots. Three smaller attack craft lifted up from the bowels of my storage rooms, and the fourth opening spit out a larger, bomber type craft with a bulbous turret on top. "Gaz, Tenn, you two and I will take the small ships. The controls are fairly simple, Gaz, so you'll get the feel for them quickly. Tik and Lizz, you two take the heavy assault ship. One of you piloting, the other on the free fire cannon." I ordered, as the floor beneath our feet became a lift and quickly slid down into the hanger. "I'm flying!" Lizz called, securing the position. "Fine! We both know I'm a better shot than you!" Tik teased. Various doors opened on all of our craft, allowing us to climb inside. I stood on the side of my ship and watched the others climb inside their own tools of war. This was it…

The final battle was about to begin.


	13. The Final Battle

_Tak's POV_

Humiliation. That's the only thing I could feel. The darkness brought on buy this damn device over my eyes blinded me, forcing me to follow the motions of my captor, unable to resist. The restraint on my head inhibited my mind powers, and my hands were locked firmly behind my back. God dammit this is so HUMILIATING. I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE ENRAGED IN MY LIFE. NO ONE CAPTURES ME. NO ONE. AND UNDOUBTABLY I'M BEING LED STRAIGHT TO THE TALLEST ONLY TO BE LAUGHED AT AGA-

Hey, we stopped. A heard the sound of a door sliding open before me, and my guard shoved me forward forcefully. I hissed back at her, a meaningless threat to someone in the higher power, before she forced me to my knees and stepped back. I still couldn't see, but I could just barely hear my two great leaders whispering back and forth to each other. I looked up to where I assumed their faces would be. "Is the device in lockdown?" Purple said. "If it wasn't you're little bitch clone of me would be dead already." I sniped, cutting into him with my words.

The other me smacked the back of my head and I silenced myself. "Do you know why we brought you here?" Red asked, as I made out the gentle hum of his hover pad as he floated down to my right and hovered in a circle around me. "I can take a few guesses. To exile me again? Humiliate me? Execute me?" I spat, venom dripping from my tongue. "All wrong. We brought you here to HELP us." Purple answered. I scoffed, sarcastically, and bore my teeth in anger. Why would they even bother?

Red clicked a button on the side of the device around my head and suddenly everything crackled into view, like I was watching the world around me on a television screen. Which, in fact, I was. The device had a visual screen on the inside, probably connected to some kind of camera on the outside. And not only that, but I could feel my psychic abilities being released. No, not released… AMPLIFIED. I touched the metal adapter snaking from my head, to find that the device was directly connected to it. It felt warm to the touch, which was definitely new.

I took a quick glance at the second me to my right, Red to my left, and Purple directly in front of me. I shivered a little, the enhanced abilities of my own mind sending glorious chills down my spine, and licked over my upper teeth. If they _really _thought I was going to help them, they were dead wrong. And if I could help it they'd be plain DEAD as well…

Why would I help them? After they banished me? LAUGHED at me when Zim defeated me? When they refused to assist me, left me to rot in a galaxy that hated our kinds very existence? And here they stand before me, asking me for help? What? Was CLONING ME not enough? CREATING ANOTHER VERSION OF ME JUST TO STILL REQUIRE MY HELP? "So, what do you say…?" Purple asked casually, smiling at me. I chuckled a little, turning up to him. No, it wasn't going to be like this. I wasn't going to help them do anything, weather it be destroying Zim or any other being I've come to despise. No… No. "No…" I hissed, standing. The second me to my right tensed her hands, ready for battle, but we both knew who would be the winner of this one. Red had been foolish enough to activate this amplifier on my head before I had given my answer, and now, he would feel my wrath.

I tilted my head to the left, cracking my neck one way, and then again to my right. The corner of my mouth twitched into an anticipated smile, and I glared up at Tallest Red. His face was twisted in confusion, and his words were soft and forced. "What did you say…?" he asked. "I said-" The other me suddenly threw both of her arms forward, pushing her psychic abilities as hard as she could, but I didn't even need to move to block her. The amplifier on my head was powerful, I wasn't even straining to hold back the force of my clone. "-No…" I finished, clenching my fists, and punching the air in the direction of my clone. My psychic abilities blasted off my knuckles, pounding into my twin and sending her shooting away and crashing into a console, utterly destroying the device.

There was chaos on the bridge at that point, the pilots scrambling about and shouting, while tallest Red and purple were backing away in fearful retreat. Guards started to pour in through all of the entrances, readying their weapons and taking aim. "Stand down!" one of them ordered, taking a brave step forward. I smiled, bearing my teeth, and stared him down. I felt so… powerful. So strong. I'd never had so much potential coursing through my veins, it was almost godly, who KNEW what I could do now. Let's experiment, shall we…? I lifted my arms away from my sides, tensing my hands and focusing my abilities on them. The atmosphere in my palms started to vacuum out, leaving a rippling ball of space. I pulled my hands in towards my chest, pushing my hands together and melding the two pockets of vacuum together.

And then I trust my arms outwards, focusing the atmospheric alteration around every single guard in the room. It bubbled around them all, a field of vacuumed air, and the sudden decompression made them burst like little balloons, causing quite a gory mess of purple blood that sloshed around the now almost empty room, splashing across my form and drenching me. Red and Purple stood motionless, paralyzed by fear, and the two of them shook like leaves in winters harsh winds. My clone groaned, lifting herself up off of the ground and out of the flood of purple liquid now dripping from her clothing. She stared at the mess, awe and a hint of admiration swept across her face. I could see it in her eyes, what we both knew. She didn't stand a chance…

An pilot ran back onto the bridge, turning to me and gave me the most pleading look I had ever… "Tak, wait, your fight isn't with me or the other operators! You have to let us get the ship into the atmosphere! There is a mass of fighters coming and if we can't get somewhere where we can fight back easier, then you'll go down with this ship and die with the rest of us!" He begged. Just then an explosion somewhere on the ship rocked the bridge, and I nodded at him. "Fine. But stay out my way or you die!" Red cut in, as well, his voice shaky and cracking. "Charge the Organic Sweep. I want it ready to fire as soon as we have pulled out to optimal range!" He ordered. I pointed at him, and Purple, and snarled. "You two shut up and stay there." I turned back to my clone, who was now on her feet, but just then another explosion tore through the bridge, the fire enveloping a few of the pilots and the concussion knocking us all on our asses…

_20 minutes earlier, above the city, Zims' POV_

It had started to rain, and I was happy to be inside my cockpit so as to avoid the hellish burn of the water droplets. Well… About as happy as you can get flying into your inevitable doom. The water ran along the windshield of my fighter, and I looked to either side of myself. There were dozens upon hundreds of craft flying alongside and behind me. A unique mix of human jets, voot craft of my own design, and SEN fighters with an alien look all their own. Much of the Massive air support had regrouped and moved into an intercept course with us. They would meet us halfway, but they would have to deal with superior numbers. GIR had managed to push through the border, and the other human countries had sent their forces in with us.

I keyed on my ship wide communicator, opening a channel with my friends. "Everyone ready for this…?" I asked, swallowing my fear. "This is Tik and Lizz, we're ready." Tik replied. "Tenn here, I'm good to go as well. All systems online." Lizz chimed in. "Gaz here. Let's kick some ass, shall we?" Gaz growled, and pulled her fighter in next to mine. I nodded at her through my window and she nodded back, ready for battle. "All forces-" Tik began, relaying a message over to the rest of the forces. "You are the only remaining wall between the enemy, and the destruction of all mankind. We've got to make this work or the whole planet is coming down with us. I trust your natural instincts will push you to your limits. Think about what you have here on earth, you're home. These invaders are here to kill everything you love. Your friends, your family, your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and lovers. Every single one of them will die if we can't pull this off."

"So no pressure." Lizz finished. Ahead of us the oncoming battle drew closer. Both forces sped towards each other like two sheets of rushing water. "Upon contact with the enemy fleet, break formation and engage at your own discretion. Delta, Echo, and Romeo squads fall in with Delta leader and engage The Massive directly." Tenn ordered. "The Massive's main weapon is fully charged, so the point defenses will be lacking and that will give us an edge. However the ship itself will be ascending into orbit to come into firing range for its Organic Sweep, so we will have to deal with a constantly lifting target. Approach vectors are NEVER going to be the same, so when engaging the ship itself do not rely on your auto lock to give you a reading. You're going to have to aim your shots yourself, don't waste them." I added.

"Zim, we're closing on the Irken fighters. Contact in 15 seconds." Gaz informed. "Alright everyone, on my mark you break ranks and bring hell!" I exclaimed, tensing my fingers on the controls of my ship. My Squeedlyspooch quivered in nervous excitement, my breathing faltered and I started to sweat a little.

Oh god this was going to be scary…

"Contact in 5… 4…-" "Wait for it…" 3… 2… 1!" "ENGAGE!"

In a split second I was enveloped in chaos, explosions bloomed all around me as human and irked ships alike erupted into debris and battled each other. I caught site of one open fighter, turning on it and coming around behind the craft. Holographic crosshairs faded into my view and I maneuvered behind my target until it was directly in my sights. I pulled a trigger on my fighters controls, sending laser bolts zipping towards the enemy ship. The first few missed, but the second burst of bolts raked across the ship and a small explosion sent it tumbling away, before it exploded into purple fire and metal.

I turned again, pulling in behind another fighter as it attempted to give chase to a friendly ship, peppering the purple craft with bright lasers and destroying it. "I can barely see in this rain!" Tenn called out over the radio. "Turn up your in fared by fifty precent! It'll permeate the blur and outline hostiles!" Gaz called back. A trio of energy bolts shot up from behind me, just barely missing my hull. I took an evasive maneuver, whipping my fighter to the right and just barely managing to avoid another few blasts that would have destroyed me. "I've got a bogey on my six! Somebody get him off me!" I shouted, lashing out to the left to avoid more fire.

"I've got him!" Gaz replied, coming up from underneath my attacker and destroying him with a well placed energy bolt. "Nice shot, Gaz!" I thanked, coming around again to bear down on a third fighter. "Zim!" Tik called out. "We've come upon The Massive and are initiating our assault! There's a lot of resistance and we could use some support, copy?"

_Tiks' POV_

"Castle and Eagle squadrons, you heard him! Break off and assist!" Zim ordered. "Castle leader copies, we are moving to engage resistance." A pilot replied. "This is Eagle, we are experiencing too much fire as it is, we can't disengage!" A second pilot exclaims. "Copy that Eagle! Neptune, can you assist Eagle?" "Copy Zim, Neptune moving to assist." "Hornet Squad, break off and follow Castle to the massive!" "On it Zim, we'll be there!"

I smirked to myself, pulling my bomber around to position a good strafe across The Massives' bridge. Zim certainly was a much better leader then he made himself out to be. Lizz fired the turret behind me, a reverberating 'Thud-Thud-Thud' vibrated throughout the hull. "That's one!" She called out in triumph, firing the cannon a second time. "And that's two! Man these guys just don't know how to fly!" I thumbed a switch on my dashboard and a small button lit up on my controls. "Plasma Torpedoes armed… Bombs away!" I called out to my wingmen, pressing the button and releasing half a dozen glowing purple spheres towards the bridge of The Massive. They connected with the metal, exploding into white hot electricity and fire, and blasting a small hole into the wall.

_Tak's POV_

I stood up, shaking away the dizzying spin in my head from the explosion, and glanced cautiously to the now exposed sky outside. A battle raged amongst the rain, explosions lit up the air like fireworks and fighters roared by in enraged assault before the hole sealed itself and blocked out the outside world. Red was first back on his feet, pointing out to the pilots and calling orders. "Initiate the ascent into orbit! I want the organic sweep in firing range as soon as possible!" He shouted. My vision filled with static as the machine on my head tried to weed out interference, and I felt a slight tingling sensation as someone tried desperately to worm their way into my mind. I chuckled a little. It was almost cute how hard she was trying.

I turned to her, smiling, and watched in pity as she struggled to make her way past my now incredible mental blockades. She was hunched, straining with all her might to force her way into my thoughts, her fingers pressed against bother her temples. With barely a gentle nudge of my own psychic strength, I tore her efforts away and then them back at her ten fold. Her head flung back, blood flinging from her tear ducts, and she yelped out in agony before hitting the ground. She was on her feet again in an instant, the blood still running down her cheeks, and threw her hand towards me in an attempt at psychic assault. I slapped the push away with my own powers, and reached out. I closed my hand, wrapping the psychic powers around her wrist, and with my other hand I motioned for the ability to grab her shoulder.

I could feel her own mind tearing away at my invisible hands, to no effect, and slowly I began twisting her arm in a direction it wasn't meant to go. She screamed in pain, flinging her head back and screeching out to the heavens as the limb came closer and closer to it's breaking point. Just before the bone snapped, I stopped and held it there. She looked at me, the shine in her eyes was pleading and tears washed away the blood from her face. I bore my teeth in the most homicidal grin I could manage. "Beg for my mercy, you little bitch…" I hissed at her. She hesitated, then finally broke down and sobbed loudly. "Please! Please god stop hurting me! I'll do anything! Please just make it stop!" She cried, tripping over her own words and bawling like a sheet fresh out of the hatcheries. It made me sick to see myself in such a lowly position.

"Not good enough." I spit, and with one final jolt there is a sickening crunch as her arm snapped at the elbow, tearing the flesh and exposing the bone in a shower of purple blood. My clone screeched out, an ear splitting echo that sounded throughout the air. I released her wrist, grabbing her shoulder and upper arm with my psychic hands, and pulled. Another crack echoed out, and with a sound like wet velcro the flesh and muscle holding her arm in it's socket pulled away and tore, ripping the limb right off of her body. She screamed louder, falling onto her back and clutching the blood stop where her arm used to be. I dropped the now useless limb, stepping over to my sniveling doppelgänger, and cracking my knuckles. "Don't think I'm threw with you just ye-"

Another explosion rocked The Massives' bridge and a control console exploded, throwing a lifeless pilot through the air like a rag doll. "My Tallest, we are approaching the upper atmosphere!" Another pilot called out. I needed to get off this ship or I was going to be stuck here with the remainder of the Irken military on my ass. But first things first… I leaned down to my clone, reaching out with my claws and preparing to pluck out each of her eyes, when suddenly another mental force bombarded me from the side, catching me off guard and sending my tumbling through the glass of a control monitor. I rolled into the landing, growling and snapping my head up at my attacker.

It was some kind of Vortian atrocity, an abomination of machine and organic. It strode over to my fallen sister on its four legs, helping her to her feet and pointing towards a pilot. "You, call a medic and have them ready her in the labs! I'll be there shortly." He ordered, and turned back to me. "Lucky shot!" I snapped, crouching into an attack position. "The only reason you got me is because you caught me off guard!" The Vortian chuckled and wiggled his fingers. "You'll find I am a much more able opponent than your clone, Tak." I raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. "A first name basis, huh? Well what might yours be?" I asked, feigning politeness. "You may refer to me as Dr. Trax." He replied. "Well, Dr. Trax…" I started, positioning myself into a more threatening stance. "Let's see if you can live up to your words."

He thrust one hand forward at this, and I blocked his mental strength with a hand of my own. Damn, he was strong! He grunted when I pushed back and put out a second hand to resist. He pushed back harder and I had to struggle with both hands to keep his powers at bay. This was certainly a MUCH more fun fight! I whipped my strength to the side, pushing his and using the leverage to thrust him towards a wall. He put out two of his legs up agains the awl to keep from hitting it, then jumped up and pushed off of it like a rocket, roaring as he approached me. I tucked and rolled to the side, avoiding him, and turned to bring down a mental hammer onto him. He had already rolled into his landing, and was up, holding back my powers with his own. Without this device on my head this guy would have slaughtered me!

He pushes up and against my powers, knocking my off balance and using the opening to push me backwards into a wall. My PAK clinks against it, barely touching it with the help of my own powers keeping me stable. I bring my fist around to punch at the Vortian, hitting him across the cheek with a brunt of psychic energy. He spins, catching himself and uppercasing towards me. An invisible fist cracks against my chin and knocks me into the air, and back onto my ass. I shake my head and look up, just in time to avoid a large metal fist that left a deep dent in the metal where my head used to be. "My Tallest, atmospheric breach imminent!" A pilot informed. Alright no more distractions I need to get off this goddamn ship.

Trax thrust his hands towards me again, but I dashed to the side and the power rammed into the wall. The metal creaked and groaned, and started to dent. Before he could stop his push I pushed my own power with it, and the combined force blew a massive hole in the wall. Now I just had to time this right… I ran over to the hole, turning back towards Trax and smiling. "It's been fun, Trax, but It's my time to leave!" I shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of atmosphere being vented and the battle still raging outside. "We will meet again, Tak!" Trax shotted back. "I don't doubt it!" I finished, and then turned and leaped out of the whole and into open air. Alright, alright, quick now find a… There!

I grabbed a passing ship with my psychic powers, slowing it down enough to latch onto its' cockpit with my hands and hang on for all dear life. Inside, by some random chance of fate, Zim looked back at me. His faced scrunched up in confusion and disbelief, I grinned at him and leaped off of his craft, grabbing another farther down and leaping off of that one as well. I rapidly approached the ground at this point. Oh god I hope I survive this. The wind screamed past my face, whipping across my whole body as I plugged towards the earth. With the strongest push I could muster, I used my psychic abilities like a landing thruster and slowed my decent with a violent jolt, pushing and pushing as I still rocketed towards the ground. It came closer and closer,speeding towards me like a train towards a brick wall. With one final blast of psychic energy, the ground cracked and shattered into a massive crater and I landed, still quite hard, into a clumsy roll that left me battered and bruised.

But hey. At least I lived.

_Zim's POV_

Okay, seriously, what the fuck? Whatever, Tak will probably just die on the planet when the Organic Sweep hits. Assuming she doesn't know to get underground, of course. "Zim, The Massive is leaving the atmosphere!" Tik informed. "All available units give chase! We need that targeting system offline!" I yelled, pulling my fighter up and towards The Massive, now miles and miles above the city. "The Organic Sweep is fully charged and will be ready to fire as soon as they are in orbit! We need to do this, and we need to do it fast!" Gaz added, panic added on the fringe of her voice. This was going to be close… I keyed in GIR, and after a moment he answered the communicator. "GIR, how are we looking on getting the people planet side underground?" I asked. "It's moving along, but Zim… There are too many civilians, and we are moving too slow… We won't be able to save them all." He informed, solemnly.

I sighed, put off by the bad news. "Just do your best, GIR. Zim out." I cut the communicator, and puled my fighter around to deal with a pesky Irken craft. "All units form up on my position, we're ending this!" I shouted into the mic, increasing my speed towards The Massive. My allies came in behind me, but a lot of them were still engaged in combat and couldn't follow the order. Gaz pulled her craft in next to me, Tenn did the same on the other side. Dozens of ships flew behind us, aiming their weapons at the enormous ship. Tik came around from behind, probably pulling around for another bombing run. This was it. All of our firepower needed to be directed towards the bridge. "All units, ready your weapons!" I ordered, charging my lasers to full power. "And… FI-"

"ZIM! I'm reading energy signatures all over the ship! Their point defenses are at full power, we're going to be torn to shreds!" Tenn shouted, and like a light switch flicked on, pinpricks of light appeared all over The Massive, which quickly extended into hundreds of laser beams. "ALL UNITS BREAK FORMATION! FALL BACK!" I screamed, whipping my ship around narrowly avoiding being blown to smithereens. There were explosions all around me, allied forces where being blown out of the sky, and there was nothing we could do but scurry around like cockroaches caught by the kitchen light. "We're hit, we're hit! We've gotta pull out!" Tik yelled, I just barely made out his ship, smoking from a hole in the side, heading back towards the planet. "Zim this is Castle leader! We're sustaining heavy casualties and can't- AAAUUGHHH!" Castle leader was cut off by static, and soon my radio was a flurry of panicked screams and pleads for orders.

"Zim! The Sweep, it's-!" I couldn't tell who was talking, but it didn't matter at that point. My ship was turned towards the Massive, and on its very front the circle of the Irken armada's symbol began to glow. And then… Then it fired. A massive orange laser that extended out towards Earth. It hit the North Pole first, using the planets own magnetic field to amplify the wave of atomizing energy over the planet. It spread over the earth, like a tidal wave of fire, burning soil and boiling the oceans. "NOOO!" Gaz screamed, terror and sorrow and hatred in her voice. It was over quickly, when it reached the south pole, and earth was dark. Cracks of orange light spider webbed across every major land mass, like veins of liquid magma, and in that moment I knew we had lost.

Earth… Was dead.


End file.
